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This chapter locates the development of community practice in an historical and policy context, charting the ‘rediscovery of community’ and the development of community-based social policies in the 1960s and 1970s, through to the New Labour project at the turn of the twenty-first century with its focus on neighbourhood renewal and community participation. The chapter aims to explore the similarities as well as the contrasts between differing approaches as these have shifted and developed over time. The intention is to focus on unpacking the competing theoretical assumptions that have...

This chapter locates the development of community practice in an historical and policy context, charting the ‘rediscovery of community’ and the development of community-based social policies in the 1960s and 1970s, through to the New Labour project at the turn of the twenty-first century with its focus on neighbourhood renewal and community participation. The chapter aims to explore the similarities as well as the contrasts between differing approaches as these have shifted and developed over time. The intention is to focus on unpacking the competing theoretical assumptions that have underpinned these debates.